‘Canes Tyler Horn on penalties: Until players focus, “nothing is going to change”

There was a lot for Tyler Horn to be upset about Saturday night after the Hurricanes’ 28-24 loss to Kansas State.
But nothing got the UM center and senior captain angrier during a post-game news conference than two illegal procedure penalties that helped kill drives in the first quarter.

Tyler Horn

The first took place on third-and-1 from the K-State 17 during the Hurricanes’ opening drive. Freshman tackle Jon Feliciano jumped the count and UM was forced to settle for a 39-yard Jake Wieclaw field goal.

On UM’s second offensive possession, sixth-year senior tackle Joel Figueroa moved early as the Hurricanes were preparing to attempt a 4th-and-4 conversion from the K-State 37. UM punted after the penalty was walked off.

“Killer,” Horn said of the effect of the penalties on the two drives. “You can’t do that. Third-and-1, fourth-and-1. You’re going to jump offsides? We can’t do that. That’s the complete story of last year. We can say, ‘Oh, we’re going to focus on penalties. We’re going to do that and that.’ But until we decide that we’re not going to jump offsides on third- and fourth-and-1 and we’re going to get a first down, nothing is going to change.”

The Hurricanes were covered in yellow flags last season. They ranked 117th out of 120 FBS teams with an average of 8.23 penalties per game.

The good news is that UM is showing considerable improvement under Al Golden. After getting flagged 10 times in the season-opening loss to Maryland, UM cut that number in half to five penalties against Ohio State then four on Saturday against Kansas State.

But while the number of penalties has been reduced, the impact hasn’t.

“The penalties overall have been better, but the first two on offense [against Kansas State] came at critical times,” Golden said. “Those are significant plays, especially [in a game] that comes down to the final play. Those two plays ended up being really big plays, costly plays for us.”

UM was also hurt by a holding penalty called against freshman linebacker Denzel Perryman on the kickoff after Kansas State went ahead 28-24 in the fourth quarter. Instead of starting the possession at the Miami 23, where Travis Benjamin returned the kick, the Hurricanes were forced to begin at their own 13.

But it was the two illegal procedures against his fellow linemen that had Horn seeing red.

“It’s focus,” Horn said. “You just got to not do that. It’s simple as that. Just don’t do it. Focus. You’re out there, have some composure. Know what you have in front of you, make your calls and just play.”